


Hold Me Close

by PerfectlyHopeless



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Drabble, F/M, during In Your Heart Shall Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-25 00:37:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3790081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerfectlyHopeless/pseuds/PerfectlyHopeless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was found half dead and nearly frozen, but still breathing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Me Close

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble starring Ellandra "Ellie" Trevelyan and Commander Handsome

* * *

 

I couldn't see anything, the blizzard blinding me. Everything was a swirl of white particles, the cold seeping into my leathers and chilling me all the way through. My teeth chattered violently as I shivered, my already pale skin blending in with my surroundings. Was this how I would die? Not in battle, not from sickness, not from old age? Was it my destiny to simply freeze in the middle of nowhere?

It was so cold. My breath couldn't warm my hands any longer, the tips of them numbing through my gloves. I couldn't feel much of anything. Walking was getting so difficult. The snow was almost to my waist, and it took almost all of the strength that I had left to press onward.

 _I'm not dying here,_ I thought, letting out a cough that almost choked me. _Not like this. Not without..._

My knees buckled under my weight, fatigue finally catching up with me. I didn't even bother catching myself, letting my body fall limp in the snow.

_No..._

"It's her!" I heard a voice shout. "Ellandra!"

_Who...?_

"Maker's breath, how?"

Something turned me over in the snow and touched my chest. "She's still breathing." That voice... Cassandra? "We need to get her back to the camp. Help me with her, Commander."

I felt something warm shift underneath my torso and legs, lifting me into the air. It was familiar. I opened my eyes and saw him

"Cullen?" I rasped, my voice coming out weak.

"Ellie?" There was astonishment in his voice.

"Where...?"

"Don't speak," he insisted. "You're safe now. We'll get you by the fire and have a healer take care of you."

I couldn't believe it. "Cullen, Haven...?"

"Everything will be explained once we unfreeze you," he assured me. "For now just relax."

I did as told, letting my eyes close as my strength finally leaving me and I passed out in his arms.

 

* * *

 

He couldn't believe it. Ellie was alive. It had been a suicide mission. She wasn't supposed to make it out of the avalanche, let alone find the encampment. But here she was, still breathing and her heart still beating.

Cullen wondered if the Maker had heard his prayers. That he had watched over her and kept her alive. But Ellie was strong, more so than he'd ever expected or realized until now. She was capable of the seemingly impossible, and he found himself fretting for her more and more with everything she did. Every trip out to the Hinterlands or the Storm Coast he wondered if she'd return in one piece. And each and every time she did. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, but he couldn't help but worry.

He held Ellie's frail and nearly frozen body close to his chest as though to protect her. This was the first time he'd ever seen her weak. She'd been fighting ever since she'd been taken prisoner. Ellie was stubborn but she meant well: always wanting to help and never wanting anyone to get hurt. It was admirable, considering all that she'd gone through since this had all started.

The healers took her from him as soon as they'd made it to the encampment, using magic to try and restore whatever damage the cold had done to her. Cullen simply watched.

It had been her choice. She was the one that had decided to go through with her death sentence, and had saved countless people in the process. And she returned to them once again.

Cullen stepped over to the stretcher that Ellie now slept on. The pallor of her skin was fading as blood began to flow naturally, color returning and her freckles dotting her forehead and cheeks. He brushed strands of her damp blonde hair away from her closed eyes. His gaze fell upon her hand and he couldn’t help but reach for it, taking hold of fingers that were calloused from her years of pulling bowstrings. He could feel how cold they still were through his gloves.

“Maker’s breath,” he swore, a pang of guilt hitting him in the stomach.

_I won’t let you do that ever again..._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading ^_^


End file.
